Full-mouth therapy versus individual quadrant root planning: a critical commentary

Area of Science:

• Periodontology
• Oral Health
• Microbiology

Background:

• Periodontal disease management involves various therapeutic approaches.
• Full-mouth disinfection (FDIS) and full-mouth root planing (FRP) aim to reduce oral bacterial reservoirs.
• Partial-mouth disinfection (PDIS) involves quadrant-by-quadrant treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of FDIS, FRP, and PDIS in improving periodontal health.
• To evaluate the impact of full-mouth versus partial-mouth treatment strategies on periodontal parameters.

Main Methods:

• Review of controlled clinical trials comparing PDIS with full-mouth root planing (with or without adjunctive chlorhexidine).
• Analysis of studies assessing periodontal status changes after different treatment modalities.

Main Results:

• Some studies suggest FDIS and FRP yield greater improvements in probing depths and clinical attachment levels than PDIS.
• Results regarding the magnitude of probing depth reduction and clinical attachment gain require careful interpretation due to measurement timing.
• Conflicting data exists across different treatment centers regarding the superiority of full-mouth over partial-mouth therapies.

Conclusions:

• Full-mouth therapy may offer potential benefits in terms of reduced patient visits and treatment efficiency.
• Current evidence is inconclusive, with conflicting results from different research centers.
• Further randomized clinical trials are necessary to definitively establish the clinical relevance of full-mouth therapy over PDIS.